


bets and blue eyes

by fandomsnthings



Series: Kids, Someday, Maybe? [2]
Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Fic, but thats okay, its fluffy, this one goes all over the place
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:05:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27420136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomsnthings/pseuds/fandomsnthings
Summary: Emma and Paul's daughter says her first word, Paul wins a bet, and Emma is afraid of the future.
Relationships: Paul Matthews & Emma Perkins, Paul Matthews/Emma Perkins
Series: Kids, Someday, Maybe? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1981244
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	bets and blue eyes

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back babeyyyy. 
> 
> Here is this cute little family, back again, as fluffy as ever (but also a little bit of hurt/comfort). 
> 
> I hope you enjoy! 
> 
> TW: Brief mentions of Emma's past trauma.

“Okay, Eloise, Dada is gonna be your first word, so we have to start working on it.” 

Eloise blinked up at Paul from where she was held on his lap, her expression blank.

Paul sighed, “You see, Mama and I have a bet about what word you’re going to say first: Mama or Dada. And I want to win, because Mama always wins our bets! I want to win one, so you gotta work with me here.” 

He tickled the baby’s belly lightly, causing her to let out a squeal. He smiled in return, “Let’s do this before Mama gets home from work, okay? Say Da-Da.” 

Eloise babbled in response, sticking one of her fists in her mouth. 

“Look, El, listen: Da-Da,” he spoke slowly and clearly, watching to see if he could see any gears turning in her brain, “Da-Da.”

Unintelligible syllables left her mouth as she let out a belly laugh. She leaned into Paul’s torso and nestled her head into his shirt, looking up at him lovingly. 

“Not today? I guess that’s fine,” Paul said, giving in. He lifted her up to cradle her under his chin, pressing a kiss to her head, “I love you, Ellie-girl.”

Headlights flashed from outside the front window to the apartment, the sign that Emma had finally gotten home; they were lucky to get parking right outside of their place, and it was nice to know when they were preemptively going to be relieved of their single-parenting duties when either of them got home from work. She had been at work and school all day, and she was guaranteed to be exhausted. By the sound of the door slamming, he assumed she hadn’t had a good day. 

Elosie perked up at the sound. Paul laughed, kissing her again, “What’s that? Is that Mama?” 

“Give me my baby, I have problems that only she can fix!” Emma declared as she marched into the living room, a deep frown on her face. When Eloise saw her, her face instantly lit up, and she started making grabbing gestures with her hands and babbling more. 

Emma approached the back of the couch, scooping the baby up and snuggling her against her chest before walking around and collapsing onto the chair on the opposite side of the room. 

“Bad day?” Paul questioned, taking in her appearance. Her hair was messy and her eyes were tired, making his chest ache with sadness. 

Emma groaned, “Worst day since I’ve been back at work. Fucking customers ask for one thing and then change their mind while I’m fucking making it, and then yell at me like it’s my fault! Over and over and over again. I’m sick of this shit!” She placed a hand over Eloise’s exposed ear that wasn’t pressed against her chest, “You didn’t hear any of that, little.” 

“I’m sorry, baby. Want anything special for dinner?” He asked softly, wanting to do anything he could to cheer her up. Simple things were sometimes the most important to her.

Emma smiled tiredly at him, “Pizza delivery would be really, really great. I want something that’s bad for me.” 

He stood up, crossing the room to press a kiss to her lips, “Sure thing. I’ll go order it right now.” 

“I love you, Paul,” Emma said tenderly, reaching up to pat his cheek lightly with her hand, “You’re really the best.” She didn’t deserve him. 

He smiled, turning his face to quickly kiss her palm, “Nah, you are.” 

As he retreated from the living room to go call the pizza place, Emma called out behind him, “Hey, why can’t you just take a compliment!? Ellie, tell him. Say ‘Dada, take the very nice compliment Mama was trying to give you’!” 

“Dadadadada!” Eloise let out in a squeal, making Paul turn around on his heels. His heart fluttered with excitement and love as the baby continued to vocalize. 

“Did you hear that, Em? She said it!” Paul exclaimed, rushing back over to the chair and collapsing onto his knees in front of them. He grabbed one of Eloise’s hands, “Say it again, Ellie! Say Dada!” 

“Dadada,” the baby gurgled, waving her arms up and down in excitement. Paul leaned forward to kiss her chubby cheek over and over. 

“I won the bet! I know you would come through for me!” Paul said, laughing as Eloise grabbed his nose. 

Emma scooped the baby out of her lap and boosted her into the air, making her giggle wildly, “Ellie! You did it! You said your first word!’ 

“You’re not mad it wasn’t Mama?” Paul asked hesitantly. He had expected her to make a big deal out of it, especially since she hadn’t had a great day.

“Nah,” Emma said, lowering the baby back down to cuddle her against her chest, “I love how much she loves you.” 

Paul kissed her again, lingering for a bit longer this time. He loved this woman so goddamn much. After he pulled away, he turned his attention back to the baby, “Okay, Ellie-girl, now we gotta work on saying Mama!” 

“One word is okay for now,” Emma replied, “She’s already too big, no more words for at least a month.” 

“Em, it’s okay that she's progressing. It’s good! That means she’s right on track,” Paul said, patting her knee lightly.

“No, it’s not okay,” Emma said firmly, sadness flashing in her eyes, “She needs to stay my little baby forever. It’s moving too fast. I mean, it was just yesterday that she was born, wasn’t it? All of a sudden she’s gonna be a teenager who doesn’t like us anymore and won’t want to cuddle or have us help her and I don’t think I can handle that.” 

“She’ll always like us,” Paul assured.

“But what if she doesn’t?” Emma said, her eyes filled with worry as she tore her gaze from Eloise to look at him, “I was awful as a teenager, Paul. I hated my parents and I skipped school and I made bad decisions and I had no respect for anyone, including myself. I made tons of awful decisions that led to other awful decisions, and it ended with me not going to my sister’s wedding and only coming back after she died.” 

She visibly tightened her hold on the child, “What if she’s just like me?” 

Paul sighed sadly, “Baby, you were surrounded by bad circumstances. Your parents weren’t good to you. You were just doing what you thought was right. You did what you had to do. Despite that, though, look at you now! You’re almost done with college and you have a steady job and you’re an amazing mother. Eloise will always have support behind her, because you’re not like your parents, and I’m not like your parents. She’s gonna be amazing, Em. If she’s just like you, then she’s going to be incredible. She already is, don’t you think?” 

“Yeah, she’s pretty great,” Emma murmured. She paused for a minute, hesitating, before continuing, “I-I’m trying to be better than my mom was. I don’t know if I’m doing a very good job.” 

“Emma, you are the most incredible mom. She loves you so damn much.” 

“Yeah, well I loved my mom too, until I got old enough to realize,” Emma said softly, bitterly. 

“Em, we don’t mistreat our daughter,” Paul said, gripping one of her hands in his. 

Emma’s eyes filled with tears, and she nuzzled Eloise’s head tenderly. She muttered, “I never wanted kids because I never wanted to treat them like I was treated. I didn’t want to mess them up.” 

“From day one, you’ve loved her with all of your being. Everything you do is for her. You’re the best, hun. I’m so glad we had her, because it gave me the opportunity to see a whole different side of you that I couldn’t have guessed you had. We love you so much,” Paul assured, “Can you trust in that?” 

Emma sniffled, then nodded. She leaned down and kissed his forehead lightly, “Thank you.” 

He cupped her cheek to pull her down and kiss her lips, “No problem. I’ll go order that pizza.” 

As he stood, he looked down at Eloise, who was looking up at Emma with all the love in the world held in her big blue eyes. Emma smiled down at her, rocking her slightly. She had started to get too big to be properly rocked, but Emma could never foresee herself ever not doing it. 

Everything really was worth it, wasn’t it?

Soon, the pizza had been ordered, delivered, and eaten, and the little family was cuddled together on the couch. Eloise was standing up on Emma’s lap, her tiny fists clutching onto her mother’s fingers for stability. She was bouncing up and down excitedly, letting out occasional squeals that made her parents laugh. She wasn’t yet able to pull herself up on anything on her own, but she still loved standing up. 

“You’re a little hyped up there, little girl. It’s almost your bedtime!” Paul said, reaching to tickle her tummy lightly and making her let out a belly laugh, “You better calm down.” 

“You think tickling her is gonna help?” Emma asked with a laugh as Eloise continued bouncing. 

“No, but look at her cute little belly!” He said, leaning forward to blow raspberries onto it, eliciting a shrill squeal of happiness, “How could I resist!?”

“El, you’ve got Daddy wrapped around your finger. Do you know that?” Emma asked, pressing a kiss to the back of the baby’s head. She picked up and then set down the baby so she was sitting on her lap, “Okay, it’s time for you to relax." 

She adjusted Eloise so she was cradled in her arms, “Let’s relax. Do you wanna eat? You’re already in your PJs.” 

Paul reached for the remote to turn off the TV and make the room quieter so the baby would have less stimulation as she began to nurse, her wide eyes still gazing up at her parents.

After a few moments, Paul murmured, “So how do you think she got the blue eyes?” 

“You, dumbass.” 

No, I know that, but it’s a recessive gene,” he said. 

“My mom has blue eyes,” Emma explained softly, “And, uh, Jane did too. My parents always loved to tell her how beautiful her eyes are. Not me, though. I just had plain old brown.” 

“Hey, your eyes are goddamn gorgeous,” Paul insisted, “I love your eyes.” 

“That makes one of us.” 

“No, that makes two of us, because El thinks they’re gorgeous too. Since her and I both have blue eyes, that’s gonna make you the cool one in the family. Right, Eloise?” 

The baby hummed slightly in response. 

“See! She thinks they’re cool.” 

Emma rolled her eyes jokingly, “Yeah, okay.” 

“You’ll see. The first sentence she says is gonna be ‘Mama, I love your brown eyes’. I’ll make sure of that.” 

“Sure, is that going to be the next thing you teach her?” Emma asked, her voice softening slightly when she noticed the baby’s eyes started drifting closed. 

“Yeah. We start tomorrow. Give me like, a year or so. I don’t think kids start forming full sentences until they’re, like, two, so I’m gonna need some wiggle room,” he mused jokingly, leaning over to kiss her cheek. 

They both looked down at Eloise in her arms silently for a moment before he whispered next to her ear, “I love you two so much.” 

Emma sent him a small smile, “We love you too.” 

After another beat, he said, “So where’s my twenty dollars?” 

“Excuse me?” 

“The bet. She said Dada first, so you owe me twenty dollars.” 

“Buddy, it was hypothetical. I’m not actually giving you twenty dollars.” 

“I didn’t agree to those terms. I want twenty dollars.” 

“Why? You’re just going to give half of it back to me at Beanies tomorrow and then probably buy diapers tomorrow night with the other half and then some.” 

He sighed, his head slumping down to rest on her shoulder, “Okay, I guess you’re right. That’s family life, I guess.”

“Thank you. Always am.” 

“Y’know, I’m not even going to argue with that, because you really are right like, 85 percent of the time.” 

“I’ll take that. 85 is a good number.”

“I love you.” 

“You just said that,” she laughed softly, as to not disturb the drowsy baby.

“I know, but I just want you to always know it. I never want you to forget,” he said sweetly.

She gave him a small smile, her eyes shining with gratitude. She brought her free hand up to cup his cheek, her thumb running over his temple. 

“Well, I love you too. Both of you. I don’t want you to forget that either.” 

“I won’t, and neither will she.”

**Author's Note:**

> Me: *writes about Jane having blue eyes literally two months ago* 
> 
> Jaime, who actually has blue eyes: *gets cast as Jane*
> 
> Me: :D


End file.
